Today London based Jazz radio station JazzFM announced that they are the first UK national radio station to launch an Alexa skill that allows anyone to listen directly to the station’s entire output. ♦

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With the Amazon Radioplayer Skill you can play high-quality streams from nearly 500 UK radio stations – including all BBC channels, commercial stations like Heart, Capital, Kiss, Absolute Radio, Jazz FM and talkSPORT – as well as hundreds of local and community stations however until yesterday saying “Alexa – open/play Jazz FM” would have taken the listener to Tune-In. Now, saying these words will use the latest AI technology to provide direct access to personalized greetings from the presenters and the highest quality live audio feed. It also seamlessly integrates ad insertion supported by Jazz FM’s advertising tech partner Adswizz.

Jazz FM worked with the U.S. leader in Amazon Alexa development, XAPPmedia, to create a customised experience for its listeners. Over time the Alexa skill will enable listeners to explore all of Jazz FM’s specialist programmes and catch up with earlier programs by simply speaking a voice command. Users can access the new Alexa skill by enabling it in their Alexa app or by saying “Alexa – enable Jazz FM skill.”

Jazz FM’s Content Director Nick Pitts said “Smart speakers are expected to be this years biggest selling Christmas gift. Our Alexa skill gives our tech-savvy listeners not only a way to listen to our programmes but also to interact in a totally unique way with our output”.

Kurt Edwards, UK Director of Business Development, XAPPmedia said “XAPPmedia are delighted to be working with Jazz FM to launch their bespoke Amazon Alexa skill. Listening to radio is the main smart speaker use and Jazz FM are making sure they offer a world class experience. We are excited to help Jazz FM become a pioneer in bringing UK radio into the new medium with our One Voice AI platform that makes voice application development and management fast and reliable.”

With Amazon launching many Alexa Skill enabled audio products and car producers such as Ford and Hyundai jumping on the bandwagon it’s expected that 60 million U.S. consumers will have access to Alexa skills this year. This same trend is to be seen in the UK and northern Europe. With the introduction of the JazzFM Alexa Skill the station joins the list of early adopters radio stations and can provide its listeners with a unique and personalized experience.